by J. L. Wilder
“I know that,” Grant said. “But it’s not just going to the administration that I’m worried about, Cait. You can’t tell anybody. You can’t tell your roommate. You can’t tell your friends—”
“What friends?” she scoffed. “I don’t have any friends at this school.”
“Nobody. Nobody can know. It’ll be bad for both of us if they do.”
“Still?” she asked. “Even though you imprinted? That doesn’t change the way people would look at it?”
“Definitely not,” he said. “If anything, that makes it worse.”
“But we couldn’t help it,” she said. “It’s not like it was something we planned. It just happened.”
“I know,” he said. “But there are already enough people who feel doubtful about allowing alphas to teach at Omega University. There are plenty of people who think we pose a threat to the omegas’ learning environment, of course. And there are others who think it gives us an unfair advantage, that it leaves us free to take our pick of the young and fertile omegas before any other alphas can get to them.”
“That’s not why you teach here,” Cait protested. “You’re here because you want to help omegas, not mate with us.”
“I know that,” Grant said. “And you know that. But how does it look when I say I’ve imprinted on one of my students? If you already suspected that I was here to find a mate, how would that strike you?”
“As suspicious,” Cait admitted.
“People will think I’ve been taking girls out into the woods all these years just hoping to find the one I could imprint on,” he said. “Some might even think that I didn’t imprint at all, that it’s just a story I’m using to justify sleeping with you. Even you didn’t think it was the truth at first.”
“I believe it now,” she said quietly.
“You have to promise me that when we go back, you’ll keep it to yourself,” he said. “We can’t allow anyone else to know.”
“But what does that mean for us?” she asked. “Will we still be able to be together?”
“Yes,” he said. “You’re the most important thing to me, Cait. We’ll find a way to see each other, no matter what. We’ll just have to be clever about it. We’ll have to make sure no one else catches on to what we’re up to.”
“I can be clever,” Cait said. “I snuck into Shifter U, didn’t I?”
He glanced at her skeptically. “You were caught in less than twenty-four hours.”
“A fluke,” she said. “I can be stealthy. No one’s going to catch us.”
He nodded, hoping she was right.
Chapter Ten
CAIT
It was strange to be back on campus, back in class. It was strange to leave her dorm with her backpack slung over her shoulder as if nothing had happened.
At least Cait didn’t have Grant’s class today. Much as she missed being around him, she wasn’t sure she was ready to face him in the classroom. She would have to look at him and pretend that her skin wasn’t burning with desire. She would have to sit in her seat and not touch herself, as she had done every night since he had imprinted to ease the relentless ache she felt.
Her need for him beat within her like a heart.
How was she ever going to face him and pretend she wasn’t feeling this?
She had midwifery class today. It was her first day of that particular class, and she anticipated boredom. She would do her best to pay attention for Grant’s sake—after the story he had shared about his mate, Marisa, she couldn’t deny that midwifery was an important skill to learn. But it didn’t seem to have anything to do with her own life. It was hard to imagine ever using the things she would learn.
She was surprised, upon entering the classroom, to see that Georgette was there. More surprising still, the girl raised a hand and waved Cait over.
Bemused, Cait walked over and sat beside her.
“Hey,” Georgette said. “Looks like you and I have another class together.”
“Looks like,” Cait said.
“We should be study partners,” Georgette suggested.
“Study partners?”
“Sure,” Georgette said. “We’re friends, aren’t we?”
“Are we?” This was news to Cait.
“Sure we are,” Georgette said. “We shared a tent on the campout, and if that isn’t bonding, I don’t know what the hell is.”
“All right,” Cait said. It would be good to have a friend at Omega University. Hell, it would be good to have a friend at all. She’d never really had someone she could call her friend before. In her pack back at home, everyone had always been on Bart’s side. Even the people who hadn’t been outwardly cruel to Cait hadn’t ever been friendly.
“Great,” Georgette said. “Do you know anything about midwifery?”
“Nothing,” Cait admitted.
“Neither do I,” Georgette said. “But I’m really eager to learn about it.”
“Are you?”
“Of course,” Georgette said. “It’s one of the best ways for an omega to have a job outside the home, right? Neighboring packs will call omegas in to help with deliveries.”
“I didn’t know that,” Cait said.
“What did your pack do when your omega gave birth?” Georgette asked.
“We didn’t actually have an omega before me,” Cait said. “My mother was a beta. My father was the pack’s alpha, but he never had an omega.”
“Wow,” Georgette said. “That’s wild. Doesn’t it usually run in families? Omegas can only be born to other omegas? That’s what I thought.”
“I don’t know,” Cait said. “I guess not. I mean, since my mother was a beta, it must be possible. But I never knew her. She ran off when I was just a baby.”
“That’s sad,” Georgette said.
Cait shrugged. It was something she didn’t like to think about. Her mother must not have found her worth sticking around for. Cait wasn’t going to start crying for her now. She could have stayed. She had chosen to leave.
Their professor, a woman with steely gray hair, came in then, and the girls fell silent. Cait spent the rest of class taking diligent notes and trying to pay attention, but she couldn’t seem to turn her mind from the things Georgette had told her.
Was it true that omegas were only born to other omegas? If that was the case, why had Cait always believed her mother to be a beta?
Because that’s what my father told me.
What if he had lied?
What if the truth was that Cait’s mother had been an omega?
But why would her father want to lie to her about something like that?
She couldn’t understand it. She couldn’t wrap her mind around it. But there was something about it that made her feel uneasy and upset.
When class ended, she shoved her things in her backpack, thinking she would go back to her dorm room and spend a few hours brooding about the idea that her mother might have been an omega like her. But Georgette caught her by the arm.
“Come to lunch with me,” she suggested. “I’m meeting some people.”
“Lunch?” Cait hadn’t eaten in the cafeteria since coming to Omega University. She had grown to expect that her fellow students would stare at her wherever she went. She had a reputation as the rebel who had tried to infiltrate Shifter U, and she knew people were curious about her. She didn’t want them staring at her while she tried to eat.
But if she was going to be a person who had friends now, she was going to have to learn how to do social things. And that included eating in the cafeteria.
“All right,” she agreed. “Lunch.”
“Good!” Georgette hooked her elbow through Cait’s and towed her along. Cait allowed herself to be led. “I heard they’re serving steak today,” Georgette said. “Don’t know about you, but I could go for some red meat.”
“I could always go for some red meat,” Cait admitted, laughing.
The cafeteria was packed. A few people looked up as Cait and Georgette passed the
m, and Cait saw one girl lean over to whisper in her neighbor’s ear, but for the most part, the girls passed through the crowd unnoticed.
I guess people aren’t as interested in me as I thought they were.
That was a freeing thought.
Georgette led her to a table. Sarah, Cait’s roommate, was already sitting there, and so were two other girls Cait didn’t know.
“This is Cait, everyone,” Georgette said.
“She’s the one who snuck into Shifter U, isn’t she?” a red-haired girl asked.
“That’s her,” Sarah confirmed. “She’s also my roommate.”
“She’s cool, Heather,” Georgette said. “I mean, I thought she was weird at first—she is kind of weird, actually—”
“Thanks, Georgette,” Cait said.
“But she’s nice enough as long as you’re not an alpha trying to push her around,” Georgette continued.
“She was a real bitch to Professor Larson last week,” the other girl at the table said, crossing her arms.
“Chill, Mikayla,” Heather said.
“You weren’t there, Heather,” Mikayla said. “You didn’t see how she treated him.” She frowned at Georgette. “You like Professor Larson, Georgette. Why would you bring this girl here?”
“She was new, Mikayla,” Georgette said. “Give her a chance to improve.”
“She wasn’t any better on the excursion, though,” Mikayla said. She turned to the others. “She ran away from the group, and Professor Larson had to go and get her and drag her back. In the middle of a storm! They were gone for hours, and the rest of us were just huddled up in our tents trying to figure out what we were going to do if Professor Larson had been killed by wild wolves or something.”
“No, we weren’t,” Georgette scoffed. “Nobody thought Professor Larson had been killed. He’s a serious badass.”
“I’m sorry for running away like that,” Cait interjected. “It was a mistake.”
“You’re damn right,” Mikayla said.
“I won’t do anything like that again,” Cait said.
“I don’t know why you think we would trust you,” Mikayla said.
Frustration bubbled up within Cait. “Frankly,” she said, “I don’t really need you to trust me, Mikayla. I don’t need you to like me. So if you don’t, that’s fine. That’s your business. But I think Georgette and Sarah are cool, and Heather, you seem nice. So if it’s all the same, I’m going to keep hanging out with them as long as they’ll have me.”
Sarah laughed. “I told you she was tough,” she said to Mikayla.
Mikayla glared at Cait, but there was nothing she could say.
“I’ll go get the food,” Georgette said, jumping to her feet.
“Do you need a hand?” Cait asked.
“No, no.” Georgette waved her off. “Stay and get to know everyone.” She disappeared off toward the buffet line.
Heather took a sip of her soda. “So what did you do to Professor Larson, exactly?” she asked.
“I don’t think it was that big a deal,” Cait said. “I just...I think he was making an example of me. Trying to compel me to follow orders. And that’s never been my strong suit.”
“You’re an omega,” Mikayla snapped. “We’re supposed to follow orders. Why are you even here if that’s not something you want to do?”
“She didn’t want to be here,” Sarah pointed out. “She tried to sneak across the road, remember?”
Mikayla muttered something that sounded like freak.
“Why do you care so much?” Cait asked her. “So what if I’m not behaving the way you think an omega should? Why is that your problem?”
“It’s not her problem,” Heather said. “She’s pissed because she has a thing for Professor Larson.”
“Shut up, Heather,” Mikayla barked.
“Why?” Heather asked. “It’s the truth. Everybody knows it. And it’s not like you’re the only one. Georgette’s mad about him.”
“Half the school is mad about him,” Sarah said, rolling her eyes.
Cait felt a chill crawl up her spine. “They are?”
“Oh, God, yeah,” Sarah said. “You put a bunch of omegas in the prime of their fertile years in one place, and he’s the only alpha any of us see on any kind of a regular basis. He’s single. He’s sexy—I mean, you saw him. Yeah, every girl here carries a torch for him.”
“But some are more serious about it than others,” Heather said with a laugh. “Me, I can admit I’m attracted to him, but I also know that my best chance to meet a potential mate is at the mixers we have with Shifter U. I’m not going to get too hung up on my professor. But Mikayla and Georgette think they actually have a chance at him.”
“You don’t know that there’s not a chance,” Mikayla said.
“Please.” Heather rolled her eyes.
“He’s an alpha,” Mikayla said. “He’s single. He’s a man of a certain age. You don’t think someone like that wants a mate? Wants children, a pack of his own? That’s probably why he came to teach at Omega U in the first place. He knew this would be the best place for him to meet lots of eligible omegas.”
“That’s not why he’s teaching here,” Cait said before she could stop herself.
The other three stared at her.
“What do you know about it?” Mikayla asked her.
“I mean...I don’t think that’s why,” Cait amended hastily. “He doesn’t...he doesn’t seem like the kind of person to do something like that.”
“What do you think he’s doing here then?” Mikayla asked. “If you know so much.”
“He seems like he just cares about omegas,” Cait said. “I think he teaches here because he just...genuinely wants us to understand who we are, and to have good lives.”
“You hate him,” Mikayla said, narrowing her eyes. “Why would you suddenly have such good things to say about him?”
Panic stabbed at Cait like an icepick through the heart. She couldn’t let Mikayla see what she really thought of Grant. She couldn’t let her new friends know the truth of what had happened between them on the excursion, during the hours they had been away during the storm. It would destroy him if the truth got out.
“It’s just a theory,” she said. “I don’t have to like him to have a theory about him. And it’s not like I think all alphas in the world are evil and controlling. Some of them are probably, you know. Nice people. I’m just not very good with authority.”
“An omega who’s not good with authority,” Heather grinned. “I guess we know who’s not going to be at the top of our class.”
The lighthearted teasing was like a balm. Cait grinned. “Shut up,” she said. “You don’t know. I could be a quick study. By the time we graduate, I might be the best one here.”
“I’ll believe that when I see it,” Heather said.
Georgette returned bearing a tray with two plates and two cans of soda. She passed one of the plates to Cait. “Dig in,” she said. “The cafeteria food’s actually surprisingly good here.”
Cait shook out her roll of silverware, put her napkin in her lap, and cut into her steak. It was cooked to a perfect medium-rare, just the way she liked it best. “There must be really great cooks on staff here,” she said.
“The cooking class makes the meals, actually,” Sarah said. “They’re third years, and it’s an elective. You can take it yourself when the time comes if you want to. I probably will.”
“Cooking is an omega skill?” Cait asked. “I didn’t know that.”
“Of course,” Georgette said. “Anything that relates to nurturing the pack is the responsibility of an omega. Feeding everyone is a big part of that. We can even take hunting classes in fourth year if we want to.”
“Wow.” Cait had no idea there were so many different options available to omegas. She had hated the idea of coming to school there, of wasting the next four years on learning things that would have no value to her. But maybe she had judged too quickly. It was hard to see what she would
do with the lessons she had learned today in midwifery class, but if she could study hunting one day, she would be able to fend for herself.
I wonder what Grant would say to that?
It was a strange feeling, wondering how he would respond to something she wanted. Stranger still, Cait realized that she actually cared what he would say. She had always had alphas in her life, of course. She had always had men who wanted to make their opinions about her choices known. But those opinions had always been unwelcome in the past.
She couldn’t imagine caring what her father had to say about her choice of classes.
If Bart had his way, she knew, he would try to choose for her. He would put her in classes that would best serve his own interests. He probably would want me to take cooking, but only so I could learn to make him a perfect steak. He wouldn’t give a damn about me feeding myself.
But Grant was different.
Grant would want her to feel fulfilled and happy. He would want her to learn as much as she could, to become the best version of herself.
It was strange, but knowing that actually made Cait want to enroll in cooking class even more than she already did. She actually wanted to learn to make him a perfect meal.
He deserved that from her.
It was like nothing she had ever felt before.
Chapter Eleven
GRANT
“Grant?”
Grant looked up. Jim was staring at him, his head cocked to one side, frowning.
“Sorry,” Grant said. “Did you say something?”
“Yeah, I’ve been calling your name for a full minute,” Jim said. “You were completely lost in space. What’s going on with you? I know your waffles can’t be that interesting.”
Grant pushed his plate of waffles away. In truth, he didn’t think he could have managed to eat them. His stomach had been churning all morning.
Today was the first day his Pack Dynamics and Alpha Appreciation class would be meeting since the eventful excursion.
It would be his first time seeing Cait.